When you say you are just going to have "a couple of beers" in Taiwan it's still gonna be a big night!

Now thats a whoop ass can of beer. As opposed to a big can o' whoop ass which is illegal in Taiwan. 940mls of fun for less than AU$3. Thats value in any city.

Thanks to the clever folks at Google, we have Google Earth. A patchwork quilt, if you will, of many satellite pictures all conveniently sewn together into an easy to use program. Get it at http://earth.google.com/ . Anyway, here's that island of Taiwan. It's smaller than Tasmania and has 22.5 million people on it. And check out the amount of green there is. Thats all mountains. That makes the bits where people live very crowded!

Taipei from above. We live north of downtown Taipei.

Tien Mu and surroundings. About a 45 minute hike to work for Li.

Our neighborhood! Tien Mu in all of its glory. A mere 10 minute walk from home to work.

I always though that lanterns were just used to light up your house. This one would be most impractical in a blackout.

One of the lantern floats. This one telling a story of a woman with poor peripheral vision.

The Chang Kai Shek Memorial again. This time on the night of the lantern festival. There were bands, acrobats and lantern displays (obviously).

It was a great day and everyone felt relaxed and snoozy on the bus ride home.

A "marble bath". Jets of water are sprayed down on you. It's like a massage. Please note the sexy yet practical headwear. Believe it or not, there is a chocolate factory just out of shot.

Naturally sourced hot springs north of Taipei were welcome warming relief after a chilly, rainy hike when the bus driver incorrectly dropped us off about an hour from our destination. It was only the kindness of some locals that cut our walking time down considerably when they stopped to give us a lift.